Idiom
dark horse
Meaning
Someone who possesses talents or favorable characteristics that are not known or expected by others.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He is a dark horse in this competition.”
“Nobody expected the quiet student to win the debate, but he proved to be a real dark horse.”
“Although the seasoned politicians dominated the early polls, the dark horse candidate surged ahead after a series of unexpected and impressive public performances.”
Examples
simple
“He is a dark horse in this competition.”
contextual
“Nobody expected the quiet student to win the debate, but he proved to be a real dark horse.”
complex
“Although the seasoned politicians dominated the early polls, the dark horse candidate surged ahead after a series of unexpected and impressive public performances.”
Real-World Examples
“Every World Cup needs them, those “dark horse” nations who perform well in qualifying, enjoy some success in their respective continental tournaments and then threaten to upset the heavyweights.” “Fognini has emerged as a French Open dark horse after he lifted his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title in Monte Carlo, beating Rafa Nadal and Zverev in the process.” “The biggest dark horse is Russian teenager Adeliia Petrosian, who mixes big jumps with even bigger questions.” “The year ahead could well be when the AI dark horse of open-standard chips emerges into the mainstream.” Origin
Originally an allusion to an unknown horse with a dark coat winning a race, as used in the 1831 novel The Young Duke by Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881).
Key words
Related idioms
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